And Thereafter
by Nook Sundry
Summary: On Hiatus. A series of oneshots, drabbles, continuations, AU's, etc, dedicated to the wonderful Demon Diary. Ratings will vary. Enjoy.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well! Hi there! (the authoress waves shyly) And thus begins my first foray into the world of Demon Diary Fanfiction! (salutes) Yup, I'm a newbie! I discovered Demon Diary approximately two weeks ago now, and within six days or so of buying my first volume, I'd collected 'em all! (my wallet, however, was not so impressed . . .) And OH MY HOLY JESUS GOD, WHAT AN AWESOME SERIES! (squeals like the souped-up fangirl she is) Oh Holy Rased if only this were to be made into an anime! (prays desperately)

For now, however, I will just have to carry on without the enormous pleasure of seeing Eclipse animated (goes all starry eyed). And I will just make do for now, with delving into the world of DD fanfics . . . "And Thereafter . . ." is a series of stories (oneshots, continuations, flashbacks, AU's, drabbles) following the finale of the series – my personal tribute, if you will, to the wonderful characters of this tale.

This first story, "B.Y.O.B." is a kind of humorous/retrospective tale set some time after the end of Demon Diary. It's in two parts. This is the first. If you would do me the honour of reviewing, I would be most grateful, and _constructive_ criticism would be appreciated.

Hugs to all the Demon Diary lovers,

Reiycheru.

- O – O – O – O – O -

Disclaimer: I do not own, or lay claim upon, Demon Diary in any way. It all belongs to Kara. God bless her . . .

- O – O – O – O – O -

**B.Y.O.B.**

**By Reiycheru.**

**PART ONE.**

A finely dressed brunette manservant, a young demon in his early 200's, moved ahead to lead the way into the vast chamber, to declare his Master's presence.

'Presenting the Demon Lord Krayon of Egae,' he announced ostentatiously, bowing formally to the congregation at large.

A murmur swept through the opulently dressed demons mingling nearest the western entrance to the sprawling ballroom, heads turned eagerly toward the tall archway, several old acquaintances of the Elder Demon slipped forward through the elegantly appointed masses to greet their comrade. Fervent whispers were muffled as the demon appeared beneath the archway.

Lord Krayon entered the magnificent room at a leisurely pace, ambivalent to the multitude of eyes. His thick, curly, sandalwood-coloured haired was bound in a single, high-set piece, hanging heavily down his back. He was dressed in deep, forest green with fine gold detail, a flowing, olive-green cloak over one shoulder, clasped at his throat with a polished garnet brooch. His steel-blue eyes roamed carelessly about the hall before returning gladly to the red-haired young lady on his arm. She was dressed in a flowing, high-necked, sleeveless gown of rich cream silk with discreet Celtic-style detail about the hem, and long, matching fingerless gloves. A smooth, polished garnet was set into the centre of her collar. Her sharp, olive-green eyes moved silently over the occupants of the sumptuous chamber.

Muffled whispers spread like wildfire. So the rumours were indeed true! Lord Krayon the Elder had taken on a human consort! A multitude of eyes looked on as the pair walked further into the grand hall, lesser members of the court moving aside to clear a passage. Many present wondered whether the rumours that the girl was in fact a Sword Master also held true, while a number of the demons in the room could sense the truth of that question in her energy and looked upon her with appraising eyes. Gradually the noise and activity in the hall picked up as the demons turned back to their own businesses. Though the young lady's presence in the ballroom of the demon court was surprising, it was not so surprising as it could have been. She was not the only human in attendance today.

This opulent celebration was the annual event in which members of the Order of Demons were permitted to invite their mortal acquaintances to their otherwise forbidden world, in honour of the day, all those years ago, when the Gods had established the infamous Non-aggression Pact, during the blood-soaked days of the Hangma war. Rarely was such an . . . _interesting_ occasion passed up by members of the court, even by those traditionalists who still regarded the mortal sphere as vermin-infested and insignificant.

Many a demon, even those in the higher ranks, possessed a weakness for one, or even several mortals befriended over the course of their long lives, and this day was one of those rare occasions in which they could invite their human comrades to share in their otherwise private, forbidden side of life. Naturally, it was not to be missed. This occasion had the added potential of high entertainment value, seeing as at least one mortal, one way or another, was bound to make some kind of faux pas in regards to demonic etiquette at some point over the course of the evening, and this could indeed be greatly amusing. For others of less benign disposition, this function was an opportune chance to discover an enemy or a pawn's potential weakness, perhaps a mortal so dear to one demon that it could be used to blackmail, or as a target of revenge. But, not for today. Today, the mortals present were safe from bodily harm or magical harm of any kind. It was forbidden to attack or purposely harm any mortal in attendance, on pain of immediate death. The very same held true for the humans; any deliberate attack of any kind upon any demon was answerable by execution. The Gods were magnanimous in this. And, besides, personal honour was involved. You were a pitiful, base, primitive creature or a superior, intelligent, higher demon with dignity and self-control. This was an opportunity to clearly draw that line, to gain favour, to casually climb the ranks. Any demon could kill a mortal. Were you powerful enough to resist your own instincts?

Erutis felt the absence of the sword at her side like an open wound.

She scanned the mingling crowd again as they entered the ballroom and gradually made out the familiar, reassuring human forms of her fellow mortals . . . and seeing them there, talking or laughing with the powerful creatures of myth and lore, made her feel just a bit braver. She briefly closed her eyes and exhaled deeply through her nose, before compressing her lips into a straight line and lifting her chin.

' . . . Nervous?'

The young woman slowly turned her head to look narrowly at the demon walking arm in arm with her. He was watching her sideways, a distinctly roguish smile she vaguely suspected she'd know anywhere by now beginning on his face.

Deep, deep, (deep, deep, deep, deep,) down, she was grateful for the distraction he offered. '_Psh_. Dream on,' she deadpanned.

The Demon Lord's smirk unfolded into a full, brilliant grin, and Erutis blinked in honest surprise at the distinctly encouraging, reassuring look in his eyes before a voice she didn't recognize hailed him and he turned his head.

Still somewhat taken aback, she looked up to see an exceptionally tall, powerfully built demon with a deceptively boyish face approaching to fervently clasp hands with her companion, grinning widely. The jovial thump to the smaller, apparently equally delighted demon's shoulder with a hand the size of a shovel didn't jolt him a fraction of an inch.

'Krayon! Still as puny as ever, I see!'

'Still as ugly as a hag, Terim!' the smaller demon beamed back, and the big one chuckled heartily.

Erutis wondered if she looked as clueless as she currently felt. Probably likely. Her escort turned to her, indicating the stranger with a (rather flamboyant, but she was getting used to that now) flourish. 'My Lady, this is my old friend the Lord Terim,' he informed her with a wide grin that effectively told her that these two went so far back that any formality was a joke. She, however, had never met the guy in her life and so scrambled to shove the rather unpleasant mental images inspired by the fact that his name sounded like "Tear 'em", and hastily sorted through the appropriate formalities Krayon had been nice enough to fill her in on before the party.

The big demon turned to her with a brilliant and not unkind smile, and so she forced herself to shelve her misgivings. He was dressed in leather and armour with a long, voluminous magenta cloak, bare-armed except for the impressive, engraved bronze gauntlets encasing his forearms. He wore even more rings than _Krayon_ did, she noticed with no small amount of shock.

'It's an honour to make your acquaintance, Lord.' Erutis inclined her head politely, trying not to go cross-eyed at the sound of this gentile formality that seemed to be coming out of her mouth. Thank Rased that a certain loud-mouthed cleric wasn't here to see this . . .

'This, is the Lady Erutis,' said Krayon, and again she was slightly confounded when she heard a distinct note of pride in his voice. The girl checked herself before she managed to think the thought "He's not so bad, I guess . . ."

Lord Terim beamed and bowed lightly to her, tendrils of his long jet mane, glossy and as tightly curled as a lamb's fleece, falling into his face, which he brushed absently away from his youthful features. His thickly-lashed, golden-brown eyes were playful.

'The pleasure is all mine, Lady.' He looked mischievously at his fellow demon, nudging him repeatedly with his elbow. 'Tiny here should count himself lucky, hmmm?'

Krayon was hard put to hide his rather blatant highly satisfied, delighted grin.

He was still smirking slightly when they eventually parted ways with the massive demon.

'Is the Lady well?' Krayon enquired quietly as they moved further into the crowd.

Erutis rubbed a hand up and down the back of her neck, her eyes moving slowly over the opulent throng. 'Yeah, I guess . . . That was okay . . . . . I think I could use a drink, though . . .'

The demon Lord was instantly casting around, seeking out the nearest source of refreshments.

'Say no more, my Lady,' he declared, 'I shall return in but a heartbeat!' And he strode off like an eager, rather flamboyant, bloodhound on a scent.

Erutis gaped after him for a second before coming to her senses.

'And absolutely NOTHING with alcohol in it, Lord Not-A-Chance-In-Hell . . . or whatever you call this place!'

She saw Krayon twirl around to wave cheerily in acknowledgement before trotting on.

Erutis stared after him for a moment, and then sighed wearily, crossing her arms and turning her head to scan the milling crowd, wishing she had the hilt of her sword at her hip to fiddle with, which she normally liked to do when she was thinking. The mammoth hall was really like nothing she'd ever seen before, but if she had to describe it, she supposed it could be likened to the place in which they'd found the female demon Meruhesae when Krayon had transported her, Chris and Raenef to the dream realm. Blinking, the young woman scowled in the general direction her escort had disappeared off to in recollection, but then returned to her scanning of the ballroom with more intent.

Various and sundry demons, some almost perfectly human-like, some with feathers or scales or bright blue skin, all lavishly dressed, drifted about the chamber joking and laughing, sipping at jewel-encrusted goblets, some conversing with the marginally less remarkable-looking mortal guests dotted throughout the crowd. Her eyes accidentally clashed with a dark-haired demon some distance off, who blinked once in surprise before smirking roguishly at her. Erutis blinked, before setting her mouth in a straight line and pivoting on her heel, resolutely stalking off. However perfect their smiles or their manners were, truly trustworthy demons were few and far between; and she'd met more in her few years than the average person did in two lifetimes, so she wasn't about to push her luck.

When Krayon had first told her about this upcoming gathering, the very first thing that she had done was nearly bust a gut or two laughing. Did he truly expect _her_, Sword Master, a recognised knight, Demon Slayer Extraordinaire, to attend a party held right in the centre of _their_ world, _without_ her _sword_ in a room _full_ of them, in some puffy ball gown? _Hilarious_. Funnier than watching Raenef try to work out the Pythagorean theorem on his fingers. Funnier than watching Chris getting his chronically swollen head deflated by Hejem. Funnier than seeing Eclipse dance a hornpipe.

. . . Okay, maybe not funnier than _that_.

Unfortunately, however, it seemed that Krayon _did_ in fact want her to go to this snooty little get-together with him. Enough not to care about grievous bodily harm. Grievous bodily harm induced by a certain someone's sword. _Never_ had she seen such enormous puppy-dog-eyes (though Raenef could probably give him a run for his money . . .). Never had she seen such a pathetic display of over-dramatic, extremely _loud_ begging. She could not go _anywhere_ without having to drag him behind her, hanging off her leg. He was relentless. It went on for so long that by the time it was finally over, her hundred or so "loyal" men were catching up on their beauty sleep or playing poker instead of cowering abjectly as she chased the dandy demonic fop around the campsite with her sword.

No excuse discouraged him. _I don't have a dress_. Not to worry. Five minutes later he "poofed" into the campsite with the most flamboyant demonic tailor (not to mention the _only_ demonic tailor) she'd ever seen, who - much to her chagrin - had _fabulous_ taste. _What about the camp?_ Not a problem. An hour later he reappeared, accompanied by a number of well-trained Crusaeder sentinels he'd apparently borrowed from "good old Eclipse". The men weren't too thrilled about it, though . . . _I CANNOT WALK IN HEELS!_ Never mind. He had graciously presented her with a pair of Grecian-style sandals that laced up her ankle which were not only both functional _and_ comfortable, but perfectly elegant as well. Erutis grumbled mulishly under her breath and fought the urge to lift up the front of her dress and sneak another peek at her gorgeous new footwear again.

She failed.

The only thing that made this worth her while was that Krayon had not-so-subtly hinted at the possibility that the Demon Lord Raenef the Fifth and his loyal servant were likely to be in attendance. It had been a while, Erutis mused. Now that she was head of her own Guild, there was not much time to go visit her old friends at the Raenef Castle. Chris wasn't living with them in the castle anymore, either, nowadays doing fieldwork with the clerics of his order, but at least he got to visit them sometimes . . . Krayon popped in once in a while on her behalf to see how things were, but it really wasn't the same. She missed the most lovable little demon Lord in the world and his laughter and his brilliant smiles, and, the heck with it, she even missed Eclipse, who was nice to look at, at least, when he wasn't threatening her with third degree burns . . .

And it was then when the girl looked up that she very nearly tripped face first over the hem of her fabulous new dress (actually it was a miracle in itself that she hadn't done that at least once, by now, really).

_Speak of the devil_ . . . Or, well, demon.

There was the one and only Grumpmeister himself, only about fifteen feet dead ahead, conversing absently with a female demon Erutis recognised with an indignant jolt as the one who's dream Krayon had enchanted her, Chris and Raenef into.

Well, on the upside, the redhead mulled, he didn't look very happy. But then again, he was Eclipse, so what else was new? Actually, Erutis thought as she sidled closer, peeking out from behind a rather large demon roughly the size of a Crusaeder, he looked rather . . . _distracted_. Jeez . . . Even when he looked distracted he still managed to look gorgeous. The woman was talking away, elaborate, lacy fan hovering, and the tall demon stood about three paces apart from her, arms folded in that familiar, carelessly elegant way Erutis knew she would equate with Eclipse forevermore, devastatingly attractive in the reserved black that fitted his station as vassal as opposed to Lord. The only colour visible was in the detail at the cuffs and collar of his long dress coat, done in royal purple and gold, and along with the long, silken, jet hair bound at his nape, his pale skin and intense, amethyst eyes, he made it look nothing short of magnificent. The other demon had most certainly noticed this fact – her eyelashes were fluttering at about the same rate as her fan.

_Heh. Dream on, Lady_, Erutis thought maliciously. It was a minute or so before she realized that she was cackling quietly, and was receiving quite a few odd looks. The redhead straightened her posture and lifted her chin defiantly. Luckily her jumbo-sized friend here didn't seem to have noticed the cackling mortal skulking behind him, so she peeked out around the demon's bulk again.

Now, unless she was mistaken, (and who was she kidding, of course she wasn't) the source of Eclipse's distraction seemed to be stemming from something he was sending discreet glances toward under his eyelashes over the lady demon's shoulder. Quirking a highly intrigued eyebrow, Erutis waited until the demon chanced another surreptitious glance, his one gold, crescent-moon earring catching the light delicately, and quickly followed the line of his eyes to a sumptuous, silk-draped settee sitting in a corner of the ballroom about twenty-five yards away . . . and when the Sword Master finally located the source of Eclipse's distraction, she was hard put to restrain herself from cackling again, louder this time, not to mention rubbing her hands together with glee.

It was Raenef.

After a few more minutes of exultant plotting (_Ooooooooooh, deny it all you want, hotshot, but it's written all over your face!_), Erutis noticed that Eclipse was beginning to look subtly, increasingly restless. The lady demon was also smiling a small, highly suspicious smile as she talked, fan fluttering away, and that surely didn't bode well, so she decided it was probably high time to come to the poor sod's rescue. Ducking out from behind her trusty, freight-sized demon pal, she stomped towards the two demons (as elegantly as possible). Halfway there a plan suddenly hatched, making her halt mid-stomp, and after a moment or two of consideration Erutis decided she liked the idea better than her first one, which basically consisted of kicking Meruhesae out of the way, tossing Eclipse over her shoulder, and hauling him back over to Raenef where he belonged.

Feigning a nicely believable expression of forlornness, the redhead slipped through the milling throng and found a nice, open space several yards behind the lady demon, which conveniently placed her in direct line of Eclipse's sight for the next time he glanced over the woman's shoulder, and wandered about in a convincing display of aimlessness, rather like a lost and lonely puppy. She had to fend off one or two well-meaning strangers, but, of course, eventually – ' . . . Erutis?'

The girl blinked widely and started slightly, and turned in the general direction her name had "mysteriously" been called from. Sure enough, there was Eclipse, staring straight at her, his countenance very slightly surprised. The demon woman had turned to see who he had addressed, and looked on with that ever-so-innocent little smile that the redhead didn't buy for a second. Erutis turned properly to face the pair and smiled brightly.

'Hey – it's you, Eclipse!' She paused, and looked the tall demon up and down, as if having spotted him only now. 'Wow – Somebody cleans up well,' she grinned.

He cocked an elegant brow, but managed (just about) to incline his head in acknowledgement, so at least she knew he wasn't completely appalled to see her, in any case. 'Lost Lord Krayon?'

Erutis snorted and folded her arms. 'Are you kidding me? I've been _trying_ to do that since I first met the idiot.' She let out a long-suffering sigh, and shook her head. 'Actually, I was looking for Raenef. I heard he was supposed to be here, but . . . I can't find him anywhere . . .' she said dolefully, looking helplessly about in every direction except the one which actually led to the young Demon Lord. Then she blinked sharply, as though the idea had just occurred to her, and turned back to Eclipse. 'Hey . . . you think you could help me find him?' _That's it, Erutis, nice, big, innocent smile . . ._

Eclipse blinked once and then nodded briefly. 'Come with me. Excuse us,' he added absently, glancing vaguely at Meruhesae before moving off. The fan paused in it's fluttering for a moment; the woman watched him walk off in silence. Then she looked at the human.

Erutis smiled, saccharine sweet, and _curtseyed_ daintily. 'Excuse us, _Ma'am_,' she echoed politely, and swept off after Eclipse, smirking mightily. _**Damn** straight!_

- O – O – O – O – O -

And so ends the first part. I know it's kinda short, but the second part will definitely be longer. I hope you enjoyed it so far, though. Let me know what you thought.

Oh, and for those (few, I hope) who don't know what the title stands for? B.Y.O.B? "Bring your own bottle"? As in, _"Evv-ry-bod-eez go-in to the parr-dy havvv a reeel – good – tiiime!" _(dances around hyperactively to System of a Down)


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